It Takes Focus

Over the Christmas holiday, one new Kardball player was overheard to say "it takes a lot of focus" to play the game.  We don't disagree.  And it takes a little extra focus at 8:00 p.m. after a heavy meal of steak and wine.

Does Kardball require more concentration than any of these other familiar card games, or is it just that we haven't grown up playing Kardball with our babysitter's boyfriend every weekend, as is the case with some of these?

Crazy Eights

This game requires you to match the card on the discard pile with one in your hand, either on the basis of its face value or its suit.  Or you can just play an eight and name a suit of your choice.  Is that easier than remembering that a Jack counts as an eleven, and eleven has no factors?  We're not convinced.

Go Fish

Got any sixes?  No, go fish.  This is truly a no-brainer game if it's just one against one.  But if there's three or more players, you'll need all the functioning neurons of a third grader to remember who is holding the rest of your sixes.  Third grade math is all you need to play Kardball, so we say the difference in difficulty is too close to call.

War

Here we have a math-based game of inequalities.  If my eight is greater than your four, I take both cards. If your King is greater than my seven, you take both cards.  Truly not a game you can sleep through.  While the calculations may be slightly simpler than Kardball, this game's general test of mental toughness is every bit as intense.  

Kardball Kritical Period

Theory: any card game you learn before onset of puberty is more easily assimilated and retained.  Since Kardball has only existed for less than two years, we say Kardball is the game of the future, and always will be ....